Nineteen games remain in a season lost long ago. How will the Blue Jackets (now with less skill!) stay competitive through April 7? Grit. Compete level. Anger. Pride. And so on. "Seeing other teams smiling, seeing other teams in pretty good playoff position makes me mad," center Derek MacKenzie said. "It makes you feel like what you've done here isn't good enough. We know that April 7th is going to be our last day and that's a crappy feeling. But if we can channel that into something positive that is going to be our biggest asset." The strength of the post-deadline Blue Jackets is on the blue line. The addition of Jack Johnson has beefed up the defensive corps, although his arrival has coincided with a dip in the play of new partner James Wisniewksi. Wisniewski has a leg injury and did not skate this morning and will be a game time decision on Thursday in Colorado. "We're stronger on defense," general manager Scott Howson said. "We lost Marc (Methot, to a broken jaw) but we're stronger. We don't have as much skill with Jeff and Antoine gone from up front. We're going to have to be smart and responsible and make sure we manage the puck well." The Blue Jackets will play out their season under the captaincy of Nash, who requested a trade in January, and uncertain of where they fit in the future. More changes are coming in the offseason. Is the current environment one in which players – and interim coach Todd Richards – can be fairly evaluated? "I think so," Howson said. "We want to see who rises, who soldiers through, and we expect them to have success doing it." Side dishes --Forwards Derek Dorsett and Jared Boll and defenseman Brett Lebda also missed practice this morning. Dorsett was given a maintenance day. Boll is still recovering from a broken right foot. Lebda had his previously fractured right thumb checked out. All but Boll were slated to make the trip to Denver. --Goaltender Steve Mason will start against the Avs on Thursday. --Winger Colton Gillies said he tried to pick a fight late in Tuesday's loss to the Red Wings but found no takers. --Howson said forwards Ryan Russell and Cam Atkinson and defenseman John Moore will be eligible to play for Springfield if the Falcons make the playoffs. Springfield is 27-25-4 (58 points) and is two points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 20 games remaining. --Shawn Mitchell smitchell@dispatch.com twitter: @smitchcd

Nineteen games remain in a season lost long ago. How will the Blue Jackets (now with less skill!) stay competitive through April 7? Grit. Compete level. Anger. Pride. And so on. "Seeing other teams smiling, seeing other teams in pretty good playoff position makes me mad," center Derek MacKenzie said. "It makes you feel like what you've done here isn't good enough. We know that April 7th is going to be our last day and that's a crappy feeling. But if we can channel that into something positive that is going to be our biggest asset." The strength of the post-deadline Blue Jackets is on the blue line. The addition of Jack Johnson has beefed up the defensive corps, although his arrival has coincided with a dip in the play of new partner James Wisniewksi. Wisniewski has a leg injury and did not skate this morning and will be a game time decision on Thursday in Colorado. "We're stronger on defense," general manager Scott Howson said. "We lost Marc (Methot, to a broken jaw) but we're stronger. We don't have as much skill with Jeff and Antoine gone from up front. We're going to have to be smart and responsible and make sure we manage the puck well." The Blue Jackets will play out their season under the captaincy of Nash, who requested a trade in January, and uncertain of where they fit in the future. More changes are coming in the offseason. Is the current environment one in which players – and interim coach Todd Richards – can be fairly evaluated? "I think so," Howson said. "We want to see who rises, who soldiers through, and we expect them to have success doing it." Side dishes --Forwards Derek Dorsett and Jared Boll and defenseman Brett Lebda also missed practice this morning. Dorsett was given a maintenance day. Boll is still recovering from a broken right foot. Lebda had his previously fractured right thumb checked out. All but Boll were slated to make the trip to Denver. --Goaltender Steve Mason will start against the Avs on Thursday. --Winger Colton Gillies said he tried to pick a fight late in Tuesday's loss to the Red Wings but found no takers. --Howson said forwards Ryan Russell and Cam Atkinson and defenseman John Moore will be eligible to play for Springfield if the Falcons make the playoffs. Springfield is 27-25-4 (58 points) and is two points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 20 games remaining. --Shawn Mitchell smitchell@dispatch.com twitter: @smitchcd